Hard rock musician with 'triple grunge' option

By Paul Daffey

September 20, 2006 — 10.00am

ROBERT JOHN WATTS MUSICIAN 22-1-1959 - 1-7-2006

The movements of Robbie "Rocket" Watts over his last couple of days have left a lasting snapshot of his eccentric life and the things that mattered to him. The renowned guitarist, who was a member of the cult hard rock trio Cosmic Psychos, died of a heart attack after a gig in Bendigo. He was 47.

On the morning before he died, Watts set out from Rye, where he shared a house with his mother Mavis, to see his three children by his former partner Narelle Duff, in Barwon Heads. He had fixed a second-hand lawn mower for Narelle.

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When his mother expressed concern that he might be "picked on" as he made the ferry trip across Port Phillip Bay with no luggage, only a lawn mower, Watts told her not to worry: if people picked on him, he would start it up and mow them down!

On the other side of the bay Duff and the kids were amused, but not surprised, when they saw dozens of cars emerge from the ferry alongside a small, wiry man pushing a lawn mower. That night, Watts enjoyed nattering with his kids before he and Narelle spent the next morning "op-shopping" in Barwon Heads. Watts made one purchase: a second-hand CD by Nina Simone.

Before that evening's gig in Bendigo at a venue known as The Pub, Cosmic Psychos bass player Ross Knight and drummer Dean Muller presented Watts with a gift: a repaired Marshall amplifier owned by Watts that had sat broken in a shed on Knight's property at Mia Mia, in central Victoria. Watts' eyes lit up, and the gig proceeded in a warm spirit.

Watts stole the show when he played a punk version of Zorba the Greek to amuse the crowd while Muller attended to a fault in his drum kit.

A few hours later, Watts was dead.

Watts grew up in Malvern, the second son of Rex and Mavis Watts. The elder son, Rex jnr, was five years his senior. Both brothers took up the guitar as teenagers. When the younger brother was in his early years at Melbourne High School, his older brother presented him with the Jimi Hendrix record Electric Ladyland.

A couple of years later, when Watts was 15, he astounded his older brother with a virtuoso performance of songs off the Electric Ladyland album - the performance including the Hendrix flourish of playing the guitar with his teeth. He left school soon afterwards to work for a luthier in Greville Street, Prahran, where he restored and repaired guitars for the remainder of his teenage years.

His expertise later enabled him to keep his favourite guitar, a 1964 L-series Stratocaster, in supreme working order despite the appearance that it would fall apart.

Watts went for an audition to join the Psychos in 1990. After he blew up two amplifiers, the band ignored his apologies and declared him hired. Soon afterwards, the Psychos were playing in Seattle, where they stayed in a house occupied by members of Nirvana and Mudhoney.

One night when all the musicians were home, the others noticed Watts acquainting himself with a banjo. Nirvana bass player Krist Novoselic was said to be astounded when, by the end of the session, Watts was playing with his teeth.

Watts' interest in the banjo, sitar and other stringed instruments grew, and after teaching himself the theme songs of AFL clubs, he busked with a banjo outside AFL grounds. He also joined his brother Rex to play in the bluegrass jam sessions at the Guildford Hotel, near Castlemaine.

Watts had lived in Castlemaine for a few years in his early 20s, and during that time he met Vivienne Ward, with whom he had a daughter, Rani. The couple split when Rani was three, but Watts remained close to mother and daughter for the rest of his life.

After moving to St Kilda, he played with legendary punk outfit I Spit on Your Gravy, as well as with punk cocktail trio the Quivering Quims, who specialised in instrumental versions of lounge classics such as the theme from The Pink Panther. The range of music showed his versatility.

Watts liked dressing up for musical appearances but his fashion sense otherwise consisted of jeans and a flannelette shirt. If it were cold, he wore two flannelette shirts - a look his band mates described as "double grunge". If it were really cold, he wore three flannelette shirts. This was described as "triple grunge".

Watts' favourite item of apparel was a duffle coat with a big No. 1 and the name of Essendon premiership wingman Merv Neagle on the back.

His funeral service at the Sacred Heart Mission in St Kilda was attended by several hundred mourners, and he was buried in his duffle coat.

Tributes to Watts included musical friends acquiring tattoos in the shape of a rocket or a guitar, and the annual banjo jamboree at the Guildford Hotel last weekend featured the inaugural "Robbie Watts Memorial Pick-off".

Watts is survived by his mother Mavis, brother Rex, sisters Wendy and Helen, as well as Viv, Narelle and their children Rani, Bill, Daniel, and Lily.